- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
THE WAR REMAINS
OF KEITH
DOUGLAS
AND TED HUGHES
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••cornelia d. j. pearsall
In his 1964 introduction to the poems of Keith Douglas, killed in 1944 at Normandy
at the age of 24, Ted Hughes points to what he sees as a central insight of this Second
World War poet: ‘The truth of a man is the doomed man in him or his dead body.
Poem after poem circles this idea, as if his mind were tethered.’^1 Hughes’s deeply
appreciative account of Douglas’s work attempted to reinvigorate the reputation
of this widely overlooked poet, at a point when Hughes’s own life was becoming
untethered: his writings on Douglas (articles in 1962 and 1963; the introduction to
a volume of Douglas’s selected poems in 1964) straddle the suicide of Sylvia Plath in
February 1963. Born just a decade after Douglas, Hughes was, like him, the son of a
distinguished veteran of the First World War, and he learned much not only about
war but also about poetry from this insufficiently examined precursor.^2 This essay
(^1) Ted Hughes, ‘Introduction’, in Keith Douglas,Selected Poems,ed.TedHughes(London:Faber,
1964), 13.
(^2) Edna Longley notes that ‘studies of Hughes—far more abundant than of Douglas—make little
room for an obvious ancestor and inspiration’, in ‘‘‘Shit or Bust’’: The Importance of Keith Douglas’,
inPoetry in the Wars(Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1986), 94. Longley herself offers insightful
comparative discussion in this chapter, as does William Scammell in hisKeith Douglas: A Study
(London: Faber, 1988),passim.